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It has been about a week since the story I posted above happened, and I have not seen that almost everyday customer since. I wonder if I inadvertently offended a believer in dowsing. That would be a shame since I got along very well with the guy.

Confirmation bias could well be the whole explanation of perceived accuracy rates higher than chance, but I think it's possible some of them may essentially be letting their unconscious mind make its best guess, based on past experience and all the data entering their senses (which will be much more than is being brought to the attention of their conscious awareness). That might give a hit rate which is genuinely better than chance.

There was a recent episode of NCIS in which a woman started hearing voices and having visions that contained accurate information about a pair of murders. The cast had various opinions about her "psychic" abilities (all but one of them were skeptical, thankfully). The forensic psychologist who recently joined the cast focused on the brain's ability to process information on a subconscious level, suspecting that the woman had witnessed something connected to the crimes without realizing it.

It turned out that

the woman was the murderer. She suffered a psychotic break after the death of her child, murdered the two people she blamed for it, and then forgot that she did it. The voices and visions were her memories coming back.

I've seen a guy dowse for an underground power cable and he was right on the money. Don't know what that means in the big picture, but I'm inclined to think that there may be something to it and don't reject it out of hand.

I watched a guy locate a water main that way.
He looked up the street at a fire hydrant, down the street to the next fire hydrant, then walked with his rods out until he was in line with the fire hydrants and told us that he had found the water main.

Yeah right.

__________________"When you believe in things you don't understand, then you suffer . . . " - Stevie Wonder.
"It looks like the saddest, most crookedest candy corn in an otherwise normal bag of candy corns." Stormy Daniels
I hate bigots.

I watched a guy locate a water main that way.
He looked up the street at a fire hydrant, down the street to the next fire hydrant, then walked with his rods out until he was in line with the fire hydrants and told us that he had found the water main.

Yeah right.

Under most circumstances as described, if he was perfectly in line with those fire hydrants he would actually be about four feet or so ... minimum ... to one side of the water main, since fire hydrants are generally offset at least that far from the main they are connected to. It could easily be farther, but it almost certainly would not be over the main.

Not all that accurate even with the clues he used.

__________________"It never does just what I want, but only what I tell it."
"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."

I suspect that the dowsing community would consider "within 4 feet" to be very accurate for something big underground.

Like I said, that's a minimum.

The actual water main itself could just as easily be in the middle of the street. Or even on the other side of it.

The one place that they almost certainly are not is over top of it. Lining up with the hydrants is the very best way to be in the wrong place.

__________________"It never does just what I want, but only what I tell it."
"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."

Not sure if this is the right place for it (mods please move if needed) or not.
Ten out of twelve water companies in the UK (when I looked) are using divining rods to find leaks, more here.

FFS

As with most of the **** that goes on in the UK with regards to city councils being almost completely inept and unable to perform simple tasks and have them work for longer than a week, this doesn't surprise me.

I've had British Gas out about 5 times over the past month, and each time they've failed to fix the issue I was having with the boiler. If the last guy that came had sprinkled some magic dust on the boiler before going to work, I'd have at least have had a bit of a laugh while watching him hopelessly struggle to fix it.

Between striking bus companies, striking train companies, hopeless city council maintenance and useless gas companies, finding out that our water companies are doing this type of bollocks is practically water off a duck's back.

I've had British Gas out about 5 times over the past month, and each time they've failed to fix the issue I was having with the boiler. If the last guy that came had sprinkled some magic dust on the boiler before going to work, I'd have at least have had a bit of a laugh while watching him hopelessly struggle to fix it. <snip>

In Australia if something goes wrong with something that is on your side of the meter then you employ your own tradesperson to fix it and pay for it. This is true for gas, electricity and telephones. Gives us a lot of freedoms. Like we can buy a huge range of telephones. Both landline and mobile.

In Australia if something goes wrong with something that is on your side of the meter then you employ your own tradesperson to fix it and pay for it. This is true for gas, electricity and telephones. Gives us a lot of freedoms. Like we can buy a huge range of telephones. Both landline and mobile.

It's the same over here, British Gas is the former nationalised energy company now privatised and would in this case be acting as a private contractor. The Bus, Train, Gas and Water companies aren't actually connected to the City Council that GS seems to be blaming.

It's the same over here, British Gas is the former nationalised energy company now privatised and would in this case be acting as a private contractor. The Bus, Train, Gas and Water companies aren't actually connected to the City Council that GS seems to be blaming.

I never said they were part of my local council, lol. I was highlighting the fact that, along with such local councils as my one, most of these companies are utter bollocks and cannot do their jobs accordingly despite the money they rake in year-round.

Pot-holes are endless, bins are lesser-spotted, and road-works are an ongoing issue. Likewise, the bus and train companies want more money for an increasingly awful service, prices remain on the up even when fuel costs are low, etc.

Same with British Gas, etc, big companies with absolutely woeful abilities to get a job done, which was my point re: not being exactly surprised over some daft sod using dowsing as a legit way to locate water.

I never said they were part of my local council, lol. I was highlighting the fact that, along with such local councils as my one, most of these companies are utter bollocks and cannot do their jobs accordingly despite the money they rake in year-round.

Pot-holes are endless, bins are lesser-spotted, and road-works are an ongoing issue. Likewise, the bus and train companies want more money for an increasingly awful service, prices remain on the up even when fuel costs are low, etc.

Same with British Gas, etc, big companies with absolutely woeful abilities to get a job done, which was my point re: not being exactly surprised over some daft sod using dowsing as a legit way to locate water.

My apologies for misunderstanding, but rjh01 apparently read it that way as well.

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